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Background: Seasonal pollen is a common cause of allergic respiratory disease. In the United States, pollen monitoring occurs via manual counting, a method which is both labor-intensive and has a considerable time delay. In this paper, we report the field-testing results of a new, automated, real-time pollen imaging sensor in Atlanta, GA. Methods: We first compared the pollen concentrations measured by an automated real-time pollen sensor (APS-300, Pollen Sense LLC) collocated with a Rotorod M40 sampler in 2020 at an allergy clinic in northwest Atlanta. An internal consistency assessment was then conducted with two collocated APS-300 sensors in downtown Atlanta during the 2021 pollen season. We also investigated the spatial heterogeneity of pollen concentrations using the APS-300 measurements. Results: Overall, the daily pollen concentrations reported by the APS-300 and the Rotorod M40 sampler with manual counting were strongly correlated (r = 0.85) during the peak pollen season. The APS-300 reported fewer tree pollen taxa, resulting in a slight underestimation of total pollen counts. Both the APS-300 and Rotorod M40 reported Quercus (Oak) and Pinus (Pine) as dominant pollen taxa during the peak tree pollen season. Pollen concentrations reported by APS-300 in the summer and fall were less accurate. The daily total and speciated pollen concentrations reported by two collocated APS-300 sensors were highly correlated (r = 0.93–0.99). Pollen concentrations showed substantial spatial and temporal heterogeneity in terms of peak levels at three locations in Atlanta. Conclusions: The APS-300 sensor was able to provide internally consistent, real-time pollen concentrations that are strongly correlated with the current gold-standard measurements during the peak pollen season. When compared with manual counting approaches, the fully automated sensor has the significant advantage of being mobile with the ability to provide real-time pollen data. However, the sensor’s weed and grass pollen identification algorithms require further improvement.

Coal seam water injection, as an important disaster prevention means in the process of coal mining, can effectively suppress coal dust, add water injection additives, can effectively improve the wettability of coal body, improve the permeability of coal body, so as to achieve the prevention of rock burst. To improve the wettability of coal in coal seam water injection, the surfactant is often added to water, but sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) have limitations in improving wettability of deep coal seam by injecting water. Therefore, it is very important to determine the influencing factors of SDBS and SDS to improve the wettability of coal. In this paper, the effects of oxygen-containing functional groups and minerals in coal on the wettability of coal are revealed, and the wettability mechanism of SDBS and SDS is expounded from the microscopic point of view. SEM was used to characterize the interaction between coal surface and surfactant, and the contact angle experiment was used to verify the influence of minerals in coal on wettability. Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) tests were used to characterize the interaction of SDBS, SDS with minerals and the size of precipitation generated by the interaction of SDBS, SDS and mineral ions. The results showed that SDBS and SDS interact with Ca

Curved metro lines currently account for a significant proportion of total route mileage. However, the existing prediction model of environmental vibration only considered the vibration induced by trains running in a straight tunnel. In the present study, a numerical model was proposed to predict the environmental vibration induced by trains running in a curved tunnel. The model was divided into two parts: a train–track coupled model and a tunnel–soil–building finite element model. In the first part, a novel three-dimensional train–curved track coupled model was established and solved in the frequency domain based on the periodic theory. Both vertical and horizontal train loads were calculated by this model. Then, an in situ measurement was performed in the curved tunnel of an operating metro line, and the tunnel vibration responses were obtained and used to calibrate the train–track model. Finally, a case study was selected from Beijing metro line 16, where it is needed to predict and evaluate the environmental impact of vibration from a curved metro line being planned for construction beneath an office building. A three-dimensional tunnel–soil–building finite element model was built, and the building vibrations in vertical and horizontal directions were predicted. The results show that the floor vibrations have peak values of approximately 5.29 and 27.8 Hz, which are exacerbated by the building local mode and the spacing of the rail supports. Below the third floor, the vertical vibration response exceeded the vibration control limit recommended by Chinese national standards. Track solutions for vibration control must be implemented to mitigate the environmental vibrations.

Pyrrole (Py) is easily agglomerated during the polymerization process, affecting its performance. In this paper, polypyrrole/monodispersed latex sphere (PPy/MLS) composites were prepared using in-situ polymerization for the adsorption of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)). The specific surface area of PPy/MLS (39.30 m2/g) was increased relative to that of PPy (24.82 m2/g), thus providing more effective adsorption sites. In addition, the adsorption properties of Cr(VI) under different conditions, including Py content, pH of the aqueous solution, and PPy/MLS dosage, were investigated to reveal the adsorption mechanism. The results showed that PPy/MLS possessed high Cr(VI) adsorption capacities when the Py content was 50 wt %. The maximum adsorption capacity was 343.64 mg/g at pH 2.0 and 25 °C. Remarkably, the adsorbents exhibited an excellent removal rate of Cr(VI) after three cycles of adsorption–desorption (over 99%), suggesting that the adsorbents had exceptional recyclability. Furthermore, the adsorption process followed quasi-second-order kinetics and Langmuir isothermal adsorption model. The high adsorption performance, sustainability, and cost-efficiency make this adsorbent a promising candidate for large-scale Cr(VI) contaminant removal.

The C-N borylation of arylhydrazine hydrochlorides with bis(pinacolato)diboron was achieved under photochemical and electrochemical conditions, respectively. This novel and scalable transformation provides two efficient and mild transition-metal-free synthetic routes towards aryl boronate esters from easily available arylhydrazines.

Purpose To investigate the difference of spherical equivalent (SE) and pupil diameter in adult patients with intermittent exotropia (IXT) under various viewing conditions before and after surgery. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 23 adult patients who underwent a surgery for IXT. The angle of deviation was measured by the prism and alternative cover test. Refractive error and pupil diameter were measured using the Grand Seiko WAM-5500 open-field autorefractor under binocular and monocular viewing conditions when patients stared at distance (6 m) and near (33 cm). Regression analyses were performed between accommodative load and the angle of deviation. Results Twenty-three patients (10 males, 13 females) with a mean age of 31.17±8.95 years, of whom 13 (56.5%) had the right eye as the dominant eye. The mean angle of deviation at near and at distance was 69.57±26.37 and 65.43±28.92 prism diopters respectively. There were no significant differences in accommodative response and pupil diameter between the dominant and non-dominant eyes. SE decreased when patients changed from monocular to binocular viewing, and from distant to near viewing (all P< 0.05), so as the pupil diameter (all P< 0.001). During binocular, not monocular viewing, SE was significantly greater after operation than it was before operation (P< 0.001). Accommodative load and pupillary constriction narrowed (p< 0.001) after the operation. Linear regression analysis showed a correlation between the angle of deviation at distance and accommodative load at distance (r2=0.278, p=0.010) and at near (r2=0.332, p=0.005). Conclusion In order to maintain ocular alignment, patients with IXT suffer a large accommodative load, which is related to the angle of deviation. Surgery helps eliminating extra accommodation.

Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM(2.5)) has been linked to a substantial disease burden globally, yet little has been done to estimate the population health risks of PM(2.5) in South Africa due to the lack of high-resolution PM(2.5) exposure estimates. We developed a random forest model to estimate daily PM(2.5) concentrations at 1 km(2) resolution in and around industrialized Gauteng Province, South Africa, by combining satellite aerosol optical depth (AOD), meteorology, land use, and socioeconomic data. We then compared PM(2.5) concentrations in the study domain before and after the implementation of the new national air quality standards. We aimed to test whether machine learning models are suitable for regions with sparse ground observations such as South Africa and which predictors played important roles in PM(2.5) modeling. The cross-validation R(2) and Root Mean Square Error of our model was 0.80 and 9.40 μg/m(3), respectively. Satellite AOD, seasonal indicator, total precipitation, and population were among the most important predictors. Model-estimated PM(2.5) levels successfully captured the temporal pattern recorded by ground observations. Spatially, the highest annual PM(2.5) concentration appeared in central and northern Gauteng, including northern Johannesburg and the city of Tshwane. Since the 2016 changes in national PM(2.5) standards, PM(2.5) concentrations have decreased in most of our study region, although levels in Johannesburg and its surrounding areas have remained relatively constant. This is anadvanced PM(2.5) model for South Africa with high prediction accuracy at the daily level and at a relatively high spatial resolution. Our study provided a reference for predictor selection, and our results can be used for a variety of purposes, including epidemiological research, burden of disease assessments, and policy evaluation.

Selenium is a trace element that has been shown to inhibit the growth of various cancer cell types. However, its role in cervical cancer and its underlying mechanisms remains largely unknown. Herein, we explored the anti-cervical cancer effect of selenium and its potential mechanisms through xenograft and in vitro experiments. HeLa cell xenografts in female nude mice showed tumor growth retardation, with no obvious liver and kidney toxicity, after being intraperitoneally injected with 3 mg/kg sodium selenite (SS) for 14 days. Compared to the control group, selenium levels in the tumor tissue increased significantly after SS treatment. In vitro experiments, SS inhibited the viability of HeLa and SiHa cells, blocked the cell cycle at the S phase, and enhanced apoptosis. RNA-sequencing, Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes pathway analysis showed that forkhead box protein O (FOXO) was a key regulatory signaling pathway for SS to exhibit anticancer effects. Gene Ontology analysis filtered multiple terms associated with apoptosis, anti-proliferation, and cell cycle arrest. Further research revealed that SS increased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and impaired mitochondrial function, which activated adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK) via phosphorylation at Thr172, resulting in activation of FOXO3a and its downstream growth arrest and DNA damage-inducible alpha (GADD45a). In summary, SS exhibited anti-cervical cancer effects, and their mechanisms may be that SS is involved in inducing cell cycle arrest and potentiating cell apoptosis caused by ROS-dependent activation of the AMPK/FOXO3a/GADD45a axis.

Maize rough dwarf disease (MRDD) is one of the most serious viral diseases of maize in China. The object of this study is to develop a reverse-transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) assay for rapid and sensitive detection of MRDD pathogen. Four RT-LAMP primers were designed on the basis of S10. Template RNA from infected leaves were used for RT-LAMP which were carried out under isothermal conditions at 61 °C for 90 min. RT-LAMP products were analyzed by electrophoresis in agarose gels or visual inspection of color change after staining with calcein. Sensitivity of the RT-LAMP assay was 100-fold higher than RT-PCR. This method can distinguish RBSDV from SRBSDV and the vectors carrying RBSDV from Rice stripe virus (RSV). The RT-LAMP assay shows excellent potential for application in the rapid and sensitive detection of MRDD pathogens in field samples or vector.

A novel organic–inorganic hybrid particle (JF633-SBA-15A) was successfully prepared by solution blending method using hybrid hyperbranched polyether polyol (JF633) and surface-modified mesoporous (SBA-15). Further, JF633-SBA-15A/EP composites were fabricated by melt-blending method. The structure and morphology of JF633-SBA-15A were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetry analysis, nitrogen adsorption–desorption, and scanning electron microscopy. The mechanical and dynamic mechanical properties of JF633-SBA-15A/EP were also studied. The results demonstrated that the prepared JF633-SBA-15A hybrid particles had excellent thermal stability and unique mesoporous structural characteristics. Compared with pure EP, the maximum degradation temperature of the composites decreased and the thermal stability increased at high temperature. Notably, the JF633-SBA-15A/EP composite had better comprehensive performance. The impact strength and temperature of the glass transition (Tg) of JF633-SBA-15A/EP composites with 1.0 wt% JF633-SBA-15A increased by 32% and 23 °C, respectively. SEM images of the cross-section of the composite which reinforced with hybrid particles exhibited a rough surface and multiple dimples, indicating a ductile fracture.

In recent years, nonconventional luminogens free of aromatic groups have attracted extensive attention due to their academic importance and promising wide applications. Whilst previous studies generally focused on fluorescence from aliphatic amine or carbonyl-containing systems, less attention has been paid to room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) and the systems with predominant oxygen functionalities. In this work, photophysical properties of the polyhydroxy polymers, including microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), 2-hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC), and cellulose acetate (CA), were studied and compared. While MCC, HEC, and HPC solids showed bright emission alongside distinct RTP, CA demonstrated relatively low intensity of solid emission without noticeable RTP. Their emissions were explained in terms of the clustering-triggered emission (CTE) mechanism and conformation rigidification. Additionally, on account of its intrinsic emission, concentrated HEC aqueous solution could be used as the probe for the detection of 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP).

Mechanochromic luminogens are of significant importance in both academic and technical aspects. Thus far, most mechanochromic compounds exhibit bathochromically shifted emission upon grinding; the examples of those that exhibit blue-shifted emission still remain limited. Herein, a donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D)-structured conjugate, namely 4,7-di(2-thienyl)-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (DTBT), comprising benzobis(1,2,5-thiadiazole) and thiophene units, has been carefully synthesized and investigated. DTBT exhibits typical intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) characteristics, crystallization-induced phosphorescence (CIP), and remarkable mechanochromism. Although it merely emits fluorescence in solutions with distinct ICT features, its crystals demonstrate bright-red room-temperature phosphorescence (616 nm) with efficiency up to 25.0% and generate yellow excimer fluorescence (578 nm) upon mechanical grinding, accompanying decreased lifetimes from 10.9 μs to 3.5 ns and a blue-shifted emission of 38 nm. These results highly indicate the feasibility to fabricate novel CIP luminogens with blue-shifted mechanochromism.

As an important biomass resource, agricultural waste is of great significance to improve the application value. In this study, the yellow passion fruit peel (Y-PFP) was used as a biosorbent to remove cationic dyes (methylene blue (MB) and methyl violet (MV)) by the simple treatment process. And the effects of pH, contact time, initial dye concentration, ionic strength, and temperature on the adsorption performance of Y-PFP were studied. The adsorption process was consistent with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm. What's more, the maximum adsorption capacity for MB and MV was 324.7 and 485.4 mg·g-1, respectively. And Y-PFP still exhibited high removal efficiency after five desorption-adsorption cycles. Thus, Y-PFP had highly valuable for the removal of cationic dyes from wastewater with a simple preparation process, low cost, excellent adsorption capacity and selectivity.

The carboxylate-functionalized passion fruit peel (PFPCS) was an efficient and rapid biosorbent for wastewater treatment. The PFPCS exhibited excellent selectivity to the cationic dyes, where the maximum adsorption capacities for methylene blue (MB) and methyl violet (MV) were 1,775.76 mg g−1 and 3,756.33 mg g−1, respectively. And the adsorption process of MB and MV on PFPCS reached equilibrium within 20 min. Moreover, the adsorption conditions and mechanisms were investigated. The adsorption process was in good agreement with the pseudo-second-order and Langmuir isotherm models. The adsorption mechanism was also proposed to be electrostatic interaction and hydrogen bond. After six cycles of desorption-adsorption, the removal efficient of MB and MV could be kept above 95%. Thus, PFPCS was considered as a highly efficient absorbent for removing cationic dyes from polluted water due to excellent adsorption characteristics, low cost and environmental friendliness.

ARGONAUTE (AGO) proteins play crucial roles in plant defence against virus invasion. To date, the role of OsAGO2 in rice antiviral defence remains largely unknown. In this study, we determined that the expression of OsAGO2 in rice was induced upon rice black‐streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV) infection. Using transgenic rice plants overexpressing OsAGO2 and Osago2 mutants generated through transposon‐insertion or CRISPR/Cas9 technology, we found that overexpression of OsAGO2 enhanced rice susceptibility to RBSDV infection. Osago2 mutant lines exhibited strong resistance to RBSDV infection through the elicitation of an early defence response, including reprogramming defence gene expression and production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Compared to Nipponbare control, the expression level of OsHXK1 (HEXOKINASE 1) increased significantly, and the methylation levels of its promoter decreased in the Osago2 mutant on RBSDV infection. The expression profile of OsHXK1 was the opposite to that of OsAGO2 during RBSDV infection. Overexpression of OsHXK1 in rice also induced ROS production and enhanced rice resistance to RBSDV infection. These results indicate that OsHXK1 controls ROS accumulation and is regulated by OsAGO2 through epigenetic regulation. It is noteworthy that the Osago2 mutant plants are also resistant to southern rice black‐streaked dwarf virus infection, another member of the genus Fijivirus. Based on the results presented in this paper, we conclude that OsAGO2 modulates rice susceptibility to fijivirus infection by suppressing OsHXK1 expression, leading to the onset of ROS‐mediated resistance. This discovery may benefit future rice breeding programmes for virus resistance., Expression of OsAGO2 is induced on rice black‐streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV) infection, which represses OsHXK1 expression via DNA methylation and controls reactive oxygen species‐mediated resistance in an inactivated mode to facilitate RBSDV infection.

PurposeTo develop age-specific and gender-specific reference percentile charts for axial length (AL) and AL/corneal radius of curvature (AL/CR) and, to use percentiles to determine probability of myopia and estimate refractive error (RE).MethodsAnalysis of AL, cycloplegic RE and CR of 14 127 Chinese participants aged 4–18 years from 3 studies. AL and AL/CR percentiles estimated using Lambda-Mu-Sigma method and compared for agreement using intraclass correlation (ICC). Logistic regression was used to model risk of myopia based on age, gender, AL and AL/CR percentiles. Accuracy of AL progression and RE estimated using percentiles was validated using an independent sample of 5742 eyes of children aged 7–10 years.ResultsAge-specific and gender-specific AL and AL/CR (3rd, 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th and 95th) percentiles are presented. Concordance between AL and AL/CR percentiles improved with age (0.13 at 4 years to >0.75 from 13 years) and a year-to-year change was observed for all except 2=0.45,0.70 and 0.83, respectively). The sensitivity and specificity of the model to estimate probability of myopia was 86.0% and 84.5%, respectively. Estimation of 1-year change in AL using percentiles correlated highly with actual AL (ICC=0.98). Concordance of estimated to actual RE was high (ICC=0.80) and within ±0.50D and ±1.0D of actual RE for 47.4% and 78.9% of eyes, respectively.ConclusionAge-specific and gender-specific AL and AL/CR percentiles provide reference data, aid in identifying and monitoring individuals at risk of myopia and have utility in screening for myopia. AL/CR percentiles were more accurate in estimating probability of myopia in younger children.

Background: The attributable mortality and microbial etiology of stroke-associated pneumonia (SAP) vary among different studies. We intednd to determine the microbiology and outcomes of SAP in lower respiratory tract (LRT) for patients with invasive mechanical ventilation (MV).Methods: In this prospective observational study, included patients were divided into SAP and non-SAP based on comprehensive analysis of symptom, imaging and laboratory results. Baseline characteristic, clinical characteristic, microbiology and outcomes were recorded and evaluated.Results: Of 185 patients, 41.6% developed SAP after onset of stroke, and they had lower proportion of non-smoker (p=0.016), lower GCS score (p 19 isolated pathogens, main pathogens included K. pneumoniae, S. aureus, H. influenzae, A. baumannii, P. aeruginosa, E. aerogens, Serratia marcescens, and Burkholderia cepacia. SAP significantly prolonged length of MV (pConclusion: Microbiology of SAP is similar to early-phase HAP and VAP. SAP significantly prolongs duration of MV and lengths of ICU stays, but also markedly increase 60-day mortality.Trial registration: ChiCTR2000028849; http://www.chictr.org.cn/index.aspx, Registered 05 January 2020.

In recent years, with the development of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) technology, more and more scRNA-seq data has been generated. Corresponding analysis methods such as clustering analysis are also proposed, which effectively distinguish the cell types and reveal the cell diversity. However, due to more than ten thousand genes for normal species, the dimension of scRNA-seq data is very high. Meanwhile, there exist many zero counts in scRNA-seq data. They all increase the difficulty of clustering analysis of scRNA-seq data. This paper proposes ScSSC, a semi-supervised clustering method based on 2D embedding. ScSSC uses the autoencoder for pre-training to construct the network and applies the community discovery algorithm to label cells. Then a semi-supervised network is used to clustering the data after training. The clustering results of three public data sets show that ScSSC has better performance than other clustering methods.

Navigating in an unknown area safely is counted as the underlying work which can support swarm agents for more complex tasks. When available information of search regions are lacking, agents make real-time action decisions according to surrounding environments they have perceived. For swarm agent system, connectivity maintenance and collision avoidance are both essential. Based on optimal Reciprocal Collision Avoidance (ORCA) algorithm, we proposed a method that agents can provide assistances to surrounding agents by spreading the status information of themselves, which is the neighbor reward method (NRM). This kind of status information contains ambient information and perceptions of the task which are transferred to reward data for convenient and uniform distributions. In other words, individuals utilize inter-neighbor interactions to achieve the same high-level goal, as well as result in an intelligent independent swarm agents system. This method solves the velocity selection problem of ORCA and optimizes the obstacle avoidance of the original NRM. The algorithm has been integrated in ROS framework and simulated on GAZEBO. In the tested scenario, our method is efficient for swarm agents collision avoidance in decentralized way.

Concerning with the non-linear characteristics of high dimensional data set, we propose a ordinal outlier algorithm for anomaly detection for high-dimensional data sets, which is combined with the idea of Locally Linear Embedding. The core idea of the method is to perform dimensionality reduction in the local space of high-dimensional data set and further use accumulated value of probabilities to reveal outliers. The algorithm retains local separability of data and also has the advantages of PPCA model, which makes it more suitable for processing high dimensional data. Experimental results demonstrate its high feasibility and efficiency and it has power to find more meaningful outliers.

Background Although Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections (SA-BSI) are a common and important infection, polymicrobial SA-BSI are infrequently reported. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics and risk factors of polymicrobial SA-BSI in comparison with monomicrobial SA-BSI. Methods A single-center retrospective observational study was performed between Jan 1, 2013, and Dec 31, 2018 at a tertiary hospital. All patients with SA-BSI were enrolled, and their clinical data were gathered by reviewing electronic medical records. Results A total of 349 patients with SA-BSI were enrolled including 54 cases (15.5%) with polymicrobial SA-BSI. In multivariable analysis, burn injury (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 7.04; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.71–28.94), need of blood transfusion (aOR, 2.72; 95% CI, 1.14–6.50), use of mechanical ventilation (aOR, 3.11; 95% CI, 1.16–8.30), the length of prior hospital stay (aOR, 1.02; 95% CI, 1.00–1.03), and pneumonia as primary site of infection (aOR, 4.22; 95% CI, 1.69–10.51) were independent factors of polymicrobial SA-BSI. In comparison with monomicrobial SA-BSI, patients with polymicrobial SA-BSI had longer length of ICU stay [median days, 23(6.25,49.25) vs. 0(0,12), p p p = 0.01). Conclusions Burn injury, blood transfusion, mechanical ventilation, the length of prior hospital stay, and pneumonia as a primary site of infection are independent risk factors for polymicrobial SA-BSI. In addition, patients with polymicrobial SA-BSI might have worse outcomes compared with monomicrobial SA-BSI.

Septic shock can be defined as sepsis with persisting hypotension and is required for vasopressors after initial unsuccessful fluid resuscitation. Elevated lactate is a biomarker of tissue perfusion and oxygenation and a useful prognostic tool for resuscitation in septic shock, as it is a byproduct of anaerobic glycolysis due to inadequate oxygen delivery and tissue hypoxia. Early and serial systematic lactate measurement will prompt physician more rapid intervention and lactate normalization, which is associated with better outcome. However, lactate formation during septic shock is neither entirely related to tissue hypoxia, nor reversible by increasing oxygen delivery. Meanwhile, lactate can be oxidized via tricarboxylic acid cycle after being transferred into mitochondria via lactate shuttle, which indicates elevated lactate can be used rather than only accumulation. Glycolysis and elevated lactate can be initiated by hypoxia, but persistent hyperlactatemia may not only represent persistent hypoxia. Some other potential biomarkers have been reviewed in the article including intermediates of tricarboxylic acid cycle, malate-aspartate shuttle, the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide/reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+/NADH) ratio, NAD+, NADH, malate, and malate dehydrogenase from the point of view of energy metabolism. Among them, malate dehydrogenase participates in both malate-aspartate shuttle and tricarboxylic acid cycle, and it can also indirectly reflex the NAD+/NADH ratio. It is reasonable to hypothesize that the combination of lactate and malate dehydrogenase will be more comprehensive to reflex hypoxia in septic shock.Impact statementElevated lactate has been commonly considered as a biomarker and a useful prognostic tool for resuscitation in septic shock, facilitating physician more rapid intervention and treatment. However, it can be initiated by hypoxia, but persistent hyperlactatemia may not represent persistent hypoxia only. In the article, it is the first time to review potential biomarkers in septic shock from the point of view of energy metabolism including intermediates of TCA cycle, MAS, the NAD+/NADH ratio, NAD+, NADH, malate, and MDH. And the combination of lactate and MDH is also proposed in septic shock for the first time, as MDH in cytoplasm and mitochondria participates in both MAS and TCA cycle for ATP generation. Its feasibility in clinic has been analyzed at the end, although related research is still limited. It is reasonable the combination of lactate and MDH will be more comprehensive to reflex hypoxia in septic shock.

Surface-functionalized polymeric microspheres have wide applications in various areas. Herein, monodisperse poly(styrene&ndash, methyl methacrylate&ndash, acrylic acid) (PSMA) microspheres were prepared via emulsion polymerization. Polyaniline (PANI) was then coated on the PSMA surface via in situ polymerization, and a three-dimensional (3D) structured reticulate PANI/PSMA composite was, thus, obtained. The adsorption performance of the composite for organic dyes under different circumstances and the adsorption mechanism were studied. The obtained PANI/PSMA composite exhibited a high adsorption rate and adsorption capacity, as well as good adsorption selectivity toward methyl orange (MO). The adsorption process followed pseudo-second-order kinetics and the Langmuir isotherm. The maximum adsorption capacity for MO was 147.93 mg/g. After five cycles of adsorption&ndash, desorption, the removal rate remained higher than 90%, which indicated that the adsorbent has great recyclability. The adsorbent materials presented herein would be highly valuable for the removal of organic dyes from wastewater.

With the continuous development of China’s industry, the disorderly discharge and accumulation of coal gangue in mining areas have become a key ecological problem, which not only occupies a large amount of land, but also causes various pollution phenomena. Therefore, the comprehensive utilization of coal gangue has become a research hotspot in the field of environmental governance. In this paper, by mixing coal gangue and fly ash with straw in different ratios to prepare compound soil substrate and growing lettuce, the effects of different ratios of the three wastes and coal gangue particle sizes on crop growth were analyzed by measuring cotyledon area, plant height and other indexes. The experimental results showed that the best proportion of soil matrix improvement was 42.9% coal gangue, 7.1% fly ash, 10% straw and 40% soil, where the coal gangue particle size proportion was 20% fine particles, 20% medium particles and 60% coarse particles. This experiment mixed coal gangue with typical solid wastes, which will, to a certain extent, solve the problem of solid waste dumping and resource scarcity in China and provide a scientific reference for the comprehensive utilization of the three wastes and the repair of soil in mining areas.

Efficient room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) is rarely observed from rare metal or halogen free polymer materials. However, we have newly observed that Zn2+ doped sodium carboxymethyl cellulose emitting long-lasting phosphorescence at room temperature. It is ascribed to restricted molecular motions (RMM) from strong ionic band and abundant hydrogen bond in crystalline states. Such intermolecular and intramolecular interactions greatly rigidify the molecular conformation and drastically decrease the nonradiative deactivation channels of the triplet excitons, thus phosphorescent emission is greatly boosted at room temperature. The photoluminescence quantum yield and phosphorescence life time of Zn2+ doped carboxymethyl cellulose composites are up to 16.5% and 281 ms, respectively.

In this study, the authors have analysed the dynamic response of a curved railway track that is subjected to moving and non-moving harmonic loads. The track is considered as a curved Timoshenko beam supported by periodically spaced discrete fasteners. The displacement and rotation of the curved rail are expressed as the superposition of track modes in the frequency domain. Periodic structure theory is applied to the equations of motion of the curved track, allowing the dynamic response of the track to be calculated efficiently in a reference cell. The effect of the stiffness and damping of the fasteners, the fastener spacing and the radius of curvature on the mobility and decay rate of the track are analysed for non-moving loads on the rail head. The vibration of the rail due to moving loads is also discussed. It is found that the dynamic response of a curved rail with a large radius has the same characteristics as that of a straight track. However, the dynamic response of the track is significantly affected when the radius of curvature becomes small. The radius affects the mobility; it also has an effect on the track decay rate below 2000 Hz and the velocity of the rail in the vertical direction when the radius is smaller than about 15 m and for the lateral direction when it is less than about 30 m. Moreover, the curvature has a significant influence on the vertical/lateral cross mobility, the magnitude of which increases as the radius is reduced. When the radius is larger than 10 m, the amplitude of the lateral vibration under a moving vertical load and the vertical response to a moving lateral load are inversely proportional to the radius.

Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) has been linked to a substantial disease burden globally, yet little has been done to estimate the population health risks of PM2.5 in South Africa due to the lack of high-resolution PM2.5 exposure estimates. We developed a random forest model to estimate daily PM2.5 concentrations at 1 km2 resolution in and around industrialized Gauteng Province, South Africa, by combining satellite aerosol optical depth (AOD), meteorology, land use, and socioeconomic data. We then compared PM2.5 concentrations in the study domain before and after the implementation of the new national air quality standards. We aimed to test whether machine learning models are suitable for regions with sparse ground observations such as South Africa and which predictors played important roles in PM2.5 modeling. The cross-validation R2 and Root Mean Square Error of our model was 0.80 and 9.40 μg/m3, respectively. Satellite AOD, seasonal indicator, total precipitation, and population were among the most important predictors. Model-estimated PM2.5 levels successfully captured the temporal pattern recorded by ground observations. Spatially, the highest annual PM2.5 concentration appeared in central and northern Gauteng, including northern Johannesburg and the city of Tshwane. Since the 2016 changes in national PM2.5 standards, PM2.5 concentrations have decreased in most of our study region, although levels in Johannesburg and its surrounding areas have remained relatively constant. This is anadvanced PM2.5 model for South Africa with high prediction accuracy at the daily level and at a relatively high spatial resolution. Our study provided a reference for predictor selection, and our results can be used for a variety of purposes, including epidemiological research, burden of disease assessments, and policy evaluation.

Fluorine anion plays a critical role for human health, especially for the teeth and the skeletal system, and a deficiency or excess of fluorine anion will result in various diseases. Thus, the accurate and timely detection of fluorine content is of great importance. Herein, a novel and sensitive fluorine probe based on ionic iridium(III) complex using 5-formamide phenanthroline as an ancillary ligand was designed and synthesized rationally. The probe exhibited excellent performance for F− detection in organic solvents. H-bonding between the fluoride and the amide proton was formed, thus changing the photophysical properties of the probe and leading to significant phosphorescence quenching. Nuclear magnetic resonance titration and theoretical calculations were carried out to understand the mechanism in detail. This is the first report of an iridium(III) complex probe for F− detection based on the interaction between formamide and fluorine anion.

In recent years, there are many researches on calculating the height of buildings by extracting the shadow of buildings, but this method is difficult to be realized in the case of dense buildings or complex ground. To solve this problem, we can use the side information of the building to retrieve the height of the building. In this paper, Otsu Algorithm and LVQ neural network are used to extract the side information of buildings from high-resolution remote sensing images, calculate its length, and then calculate the height of the building according to the physical model of imaging. Compared with the measured building height, the calculation results of this method can meet the accuracy requirements of building height calculation, and this method can complement the results of shadow extraction method. Finally, the height information of most buildings in the area can be obtained.

Wheel-rail interaction in the curved track is a complex dynamic problem. It is important to make a model to research the dynamic characteristics of a curved railway track subjected to harmonic moving loads. The discretely supported curved Euler beam is used to simulate dynamic response of the curved track which is part of the circular structure whose cyclic length is the spacing of fasteners. Based on the dynamic characteristics of the periodic structure subjected to harmonic moving loads, the dynamic responses of a curved track can be solved within one basic element of the track. The analytical solutions of out-of-plane vibrations of a curved beam can be obtained by solving a system of linear equations with eight unknowns in the frequency domain. Several conclusions are obtained as follows. The significant frequency band of the dynamic responses of a curved beam is located around the load excitation frequency. With the increasing velocity of loads, the responses within a narrow band around the excitation frequency will be reduced, but responses of other frequencies will increase significantly. On both sides of the load excitation frequency, there are parametric excitations with a certain frequency spacing. With the increase of the load velocity, the maximum peak value of the track responses in time history caused by harmonic moving loads varies little, but the responses time will be shorter.

Real-time control strategy development remains challenging in the field of controlling multi-robot system. Due to frequent and massive interactions among robots, it is hard to implement a real-time control strategy in the multi-robot system. This phenomenon further limits the development of multi-robot application which adopts the real-time control strategy. To deal with above challenges, this paper proposes a decentralized control policy for multi-robot to avoid collision in an unknown environment. This policy adopts reward value to measure robots' motion and states. With reward value, robots can determine which neighbor robot to communicate with and to learn from, which decreases the interaction cost incurred in the multi-robot system. By the reward, the control strategy of each robot can be optimized through learning from its neighbors. Comparative experiments are conducted in a simulator to evaluate the effectiveness of our policy.

Distributed optical vibration sensors (DOVS) have attracted much attention recently since it can be used to monitor mechanical vibrations or acoustic waves with long reach and high sensitivity. Phase-sensitive optical time domain reflectometry (Φ-OTDR) is one of the most commonly used DOVS schemes. For Φ-OTDR, the whole length of fiber under test (FUT) works as the sensing instrument and continuously generates sensing data during measurement. Researchers have made great efforts to try to extract external intrusions from the redundant data. High signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is necessary in order to accurately locate and identify external intrusions in Φ-OTDR systems. Improvement in SNR is normally limited by the properties of light source, photodetector and FUT. But this limitation can also be overcome by post-processing of the received optical signals. In this context, detailed methodologies of SNR enhancement post-processing algorithms in Φ-OTDR systems have been described in this paper. Furthermore, after successfully locating the external vibrations, it is also important to identify the types of source of the vibrations. Pattern classification is a powerful tool in recognizing the intrusion types from the vibration signals in practical applications. Recent reports of Φ-OTDR systems employed with pattern classification algorithms are subsequently reviewed and discussed. This thorough review will provide a design pathway for improving the performance of Φ-OTDR while maintaining the cost of the system as no additional hardware is required.

Parallel programming skills are becoming more popular due to the unprecedented boom in artificial intelligent and high-performance computing. Programming assignments are widely used in parallel programming courses to measure student performance and expose students to constraints in real projects. However, due to the difficulty level of these assignments, many students struggle to write fully functional and adequately documented programs. To improve student performance, we implemented a moderated two-stage format for five course projects in a graduate-level introductory parallel programming class. Each project is divided into two stages where students complete the assignment individually without any collaboration in the first stage. Then students work in pairs to work on the same project in the second stage so they can review each other's work from the first stage and improve their programs collaboratively. For two of the five projects, a moderated meeting is conducted in between the two stages where the instructor moderated a group discussion on general issues raised by students. We found that students' performance improved from stage one to stage two. In addition, the two projects with a moderated meeting show better performance gains. This paper also examines students' perceptions of and experiences with the moderated two-stage projects. Students favor working on two-stage projects because they had a chance to discuss challenging concepts and the moderated discussion session tend to guide them to the correct path should they make mistakes in stage one.

This paper presents a real-time monocular vision solution to human postures recognition for human-drone interaction. The approach achieves a more natural interaction between human and drone. Image regions and joint positions of human bodies in images from a monocular camera mounted on a micro drone are extracted by using a deep neural network. Then, feature vectors of a human body are generated by the relative distance among the joints and classified by a support vector machine (SVM) classifier. The performance of the solution is demonstrated by extensive experiments. Our method obtains an average recognition accuracy of 97.34% on the micro drone and keeps high precision even with a large distance between the human and the micro drone. Furthermore, our method consumes limited computing resources and is suitable for onboard applications of a micro drone.

This study aimed to prepare surface amino-riched passion fruit peel (DAPFP) by amination reaction with low-cost biomaterials and use it as a biosorbent to adsorb Cr (VI). The specific physicochemical and structural properties of DAPFP were characterized by SEM, EDS, XRD, TG, Zeta, XPS, and FT-IR. The effects of pH value, initial concentration, adsorption time, coexisting ions, and temperature on the adsorption of Cr (VI) were systematically investigated. The results showed that within 90 min, DAPFP could reduce the concentration of Cr (VI) solution (1 mg/L−1) to an allowable safe level of drinking water (0.05 mg/L−1) specified by the World Health Organization. The adsorption process complies with pseudo-second-order kinetics and the Langmuir isotherm model. The adsorption capacity of the prepared biosorbent could reach 675.65 mg/g−1. The results of thermodynamic studies confirmed that the adsorption process was a self-discharging heat process. DAPFP also showed good reusability, even after being used repeatedly five times, it still showed excellent adsorption performance. FT-IR and XPS analyses showed that electrostatic attraction and reduction were the main reasons for the adsorption. By virtue of its low cost and excellent adsorption performance, DAPFP has a potential practical application as an adsorbent in treating Cr (VI) containing wastewater.

Purpose Cancer stem cell-tumor microenvironment ecosystem is proposed to drive tumor heterogeneity. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in breast cancer ecosystem were demonstrated to indicate better prognosis and benefit from chemotherapy. This study sought to detect the association between breast cancer stem cells and TILs. Methods 92 patients with breast cancer were enrolled. Matched cancerous and paracancerous tissues were assembled in a tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry was employed to test expression of breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) markers. TILs counts were estimated with global hematoxylin-eosin staining. The association between TILs and BCSCs phenotypes was analysed by multivariate analysis. Results Although it was unable to find direct significant association between BCSCs phenotypes and TILs, the BCSCs phenotype with CD44+CD24−ALDH1A1+EpCAM+CD49f+ was proved to be associated with worse DFS and OS (P = 0.037 and 0.001). This result was confirmed by cox proportional-hazards regression model (for DFS and OS respectively, HR = 2.438 and 3.383, P = 0.019 [95%CI 1.418–3.457] and 0.025 [95%CI 1.162–9.843]). Additionally, in results of TILs, plasma cell-predominant breast cancer (PPBC) was unexpectedly found to indicate worse OS and HR was 2.686 (P = 0.038 [95%CI 1.582–3.789]). Conclusions The BCSCs phenotype and PPBC may be helpful stratified factors in future clinical trials. The underlying mechanism needs further research.

Sepsis induced myocardial dysfunction (SIMD) results in high morbidity and mortality. However, the effective therapeutic strategies for SIMD treatment remain limited. Sirt3 is the main mitochondrial Sirtuin member and is a key modulator of mitochondrial metabolism and function. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect and mechanism of Sirt3 on SIMD. SIMD was induced by 20 mg/kg Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) injection for 6 h in mice. Sepsis could induce the reduction of cardiac Sirt3 expression and global deficiency of Sirt3 exacerbated cardiac function. Quantitative acetyl-proteomics and cardiac metabolomics analysis revealed that loss of Sirt3 led to hyper-acetylation of critical enzymes within cardiac tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and generation of lactate and NADH, subsequently promotion of cardiac dysfunction after sepsis. Additionally, to evaluate whether Emodin could be utilized as a potential Sirt3 modulator to treat SIMD, male wild type mice (WT mice) or global Sirt3 deficient mice (Sirt3-/- mice) were intraperitoneally injected with 40 mg/kg Emodin for 5 days followed by 20 mg/kg LPS administration for another 6 h and observed that exogenous administration of Emodin could attenuate myocardial dysfunction in septic WT mice. However, septic Sirt3-/- mice can not gain benefit on cardiac performance from Emodin infusion. In conclusion, this study presented the protective role of Sirt3 targeting SIMD, which may provide a potential novel approach to maintain normal cardiac performance after sepsis.

Rice black-streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV) infects rice plants, a major crop, and is transmitted via the small brown planthopper (SBPH: Laodelphax striatellus Fallen), causing significant economic loss in China. To rapidly diagnose RBSDV, a reverse transcription-recombinase polymerase amplification (RT-RPA) method was developed using P10 virus-specific primers and probes. Detection of terminally labeled amplification products was achieved with the lateral flow strip method. Our results demonstrate that RT-RPA and RT-PCR assays offer similar sensitivity and specificity in RBSDV detection using cDNA as template. The optimum RT-RPA reaction temperature and time was 37 °C and 20 min, respectively. By screening twenty-one field suspected rice plants, the RT-RPA assay was confirmed to be simple, rapid and reliable. Thus, the RBSDV RT-RPA assay developed here will be a successful tool for quick diagnosis of RBSDV-infected rice plants.

The exact effect of glycine pre-treatment on brain ischemic tolerance (IT) remains quite controversial. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential effects of glycine on IT. We used rat models of both in vitro ischemia (oxygen and glucose deprivation) and in vivo ischemia (transient middle cerebral artery occlusion). Low doses of glycine (L-Gly) significantly decreased hippocampal ischemic LTP (i-LTP), infarct volume, and neurological deficit scores which were administered before ischemia was induced in rats, whereas high doses of glycine exerted deteriorative effects under the same condition. These findings suggested that exogenous glycine may induce IT in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, L-Gly-dependent neuronal protection was inversed by L689, a selective NMDAR glycine site antagonist both in vitro (abolished i-LTP depression) and in vivo (increased infarct size reduction), but not glycine receptor (GlyR) inhibitor strychnine. Importantly, L-Gly-induced IT was achieved by NR2A-dependent cAMP-response element binding protein phosphorylation. These data imply that glycine pre-treatment may represent a novel strategy for inducing IT based on synaptic NMDAR-dependent neuronal transmission. A model of glycine induced dose-dependent bidirectional regulations in ischemic tolerance. (a) Under low dose of Gly pre-treatment, glycine induces NMDAR potentiation and CREB-dependent neuroprotection through the NMDAR co-agonist binding site. (b) Under high dose of Gly pre-treatment, the excessive glycine in synaptic cleft can activate neighboring extrasynaptic sites and combine to the GlyRs. Then, the deteriorative effects would be triggered after NMDAR endocytosis and synaptic depression. AMPAR, α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor; CREB, cAMP response element-binding protein; Gly, glycine; GlyR, glycine receptor; GlyT1, gycine transportor 1; NMDAR, N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor.